Our Team

The Policing Project at the New York University School of Law is a dynamic, growing organization dedicated to bringing democratic accountability to policing. We work with communities and police departments across the country to ensure that police department policies and practices are transparent, efficacious, and adopted with public input.

Staff

Barry Friedman, Director

As the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Professor of Law and Affiliated Professor of Politics at NYU School of Law, Barry is one of the country’s leading authorities on constitutional law, criminal procedure, and the federal courts. He serves as the reporter for the American Law Institute’s new Principles of the Law, Police Investigations, and is the author of the critically acclaimed The Will of the People: How Public Opinion Has Influenced the Supreme Court and Shaped the Meaning of the Constitution, and Unwarranted: Policing Without Permission. Barry graduated with honors from the University of Chicago and received his law degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center.

Maria Ponomarenko, Co-Founder and Counsel

Maria co-founded the Policing Project with Barry Friedman, and will continue to advise on the Policing Project's front end accountability work after she joins the University of Minnesota Law School as an Associate Professor this fall. Maria writes in the areas of administrative law, criminal procedure, and constitutional law. She graduated summa cum laude from NYU Law. After graduation, she clerked for Judge Richard A. Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Maria holds a Ph.D in history from Stanford University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in History and Economics and a Master of Arts in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago.

Farhang Heydari, Executive Director

Farhang is a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Law School, where he served as the editor-in-chief of the Columbia Law Review and director of the Society for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. In addition to his work at the Policing Project, Farhang is a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School. Prior to joining the Policing Project, Farhang was a Johnnie L. Cochran fellow and an associate at Neufeld, Scheck and Brustin, LLP, where he focused on representing individuals who have been victims of official misconduct. Farhang has previously clerked for Judge Kimba Wood of the Southern District of New York and Judge Diana Gribbon Motz of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Matthew Barge, Consultant

Matthew is the federal court-appointed monitor overseeing a federal consent decree in Cleveland, Ohio, and is currently serving as lead police practices expert to a retired magistrate judge overseeing an agreement between the City of Chicago and American Civil Liberties Union. Matthew is a subject matter expert on the federal monitoring team overseeing a federal consent decree in Baltimore, and previously served as Deputy Monitor for a federal consent decree in Seattle. He is a Principal Consultant with 21CP Solutions, an attorney, and a graduate of NYU School of Law and Georgetown University.

Nicole Bernardo, Administrator

Nicole graduated summa cum laude from the NYU College of Arts & Science. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and American Literature with a double minor in Cinema Studies and Business of Entertainment, Media and Technology.

Brian Chen, Senior Program Manager

Before joining the Policing Project, Brian worked at the Mayor’s Office in New Orleans, where he managed citywide strategies to promote public safety and economic opportunity. Brian has previously served as a litigation associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobson LLP, where he monitored a U.S. police department under a federal consent decree. Chen earned a Bachelor of Arts with distinction from the University of Michigan and his Doctor of Jurisprudence from NYU Law.

Julian Clark, Policing Fellow

Prior to joining the Policing Project, Julian attended NYC School of Law, where he served as an executive editor on NYU Law Review and participated in the Criminal Defense and Re-entry Clinic, as well as the Challenging Mass Incarceration Clinic. He previously worked in finance at AIG and JPMorgan Chase. Julian holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Michigan.

Carrie Eidson, Commmunications Manager

Carrie is a communications professional and award-winning journalist with a background in environmental equity and urban development. She joined the Policing Project from Chicago where she most recently served as a communications and marketing associate with the Chicago Park District. Her work in environmental journalism has been recognized with honors from the N.C. Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. Carrie holds a Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University and is currently pursuing a master’s in urban planning at NYU.

Regina Holloway, Senior Program Manager

Prior to joining the Policing Project, Regina served as a Supervising Investigator with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability in Chicago. She began her legal career as a Clinical Fellow at Suffolk University Law School before transitioning to practicing criminal defense in the Boston District Courts, where she worked as a Bar Advocate for Suffolk Lawyers for Justice. Regina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and African-American Studies from Temple University, and earned her Doctor of Jurisprudence from Suffolk University Law School.

Mecole Jordan, Senior Program Manager

Mecole Jordan is the former Executive Director of the United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations in Chicago. She previously worked with the Chicago-based Target Area Development Corp., where she focused on violence prevention and support programs for formerly incarcerated individuals. Ms. Jordan also helped to build the Illinois-based Statewide Action and Grassroots Education Initiative.

Emmanuel Mauleon, Technology Fellow

Emmanuel is the Technology Fellow at the Policing Project. Previously, he was a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, where he worked on research and policy related to discriminatory surveillance, domestic terrorism, and hate crimes. While in law school he clerked for the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Federal Public Defender’s Capital Habeas Unit in Los Angeles. He holds a J.D. from UCLA School of Law with specializations in critical race theory and international law, and a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Christina Socci, Program Manager

Christina completed her graduate work at Ewha University in Seoul, Republic of Korea, with a Master’s degree in Development Cooperation and her undergraduate work at Dickinson College with a Bachelor's degree in English. In her Master’s program, her academic interests focused on the intersection of gendered vulnerability with legal systems, particularly related to housing, disaster risk reduction, domestic violence and anti-discrimination protections. She has worked with international organizations such as UN DESA (through its Project Office on Governance) and the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation.

Robin Tholin, Litigation Fellow

Prior to joining the Policing Project, Robin attended Harvard Law School, where she served as an executive editor of the Harvard Law Review. She worked as a summer associate at Altshuler Berzon LLP and spent the previous summer in Senator Durbin’s Judiciary Committee office. Robin holds a Bachelor of Arts in the College of Social Studies from Wesleyan University.

Senior Fellows

Brian Buchner, Senior Policing Fellow

Brian is the Chief of Homelessness Operations and Street Strategies for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, where he manages and oversees the City’s outreach, engagement, and sanitation protocols. Prior to this, Buchner worked directly in civilian oversight of policing for more than a decade before becoming the Mayor's Public Safety Policy Director. He currently serves as an advisor to the American Law Institute's Policing Project, and as a member of the board of directors of the Integrated Recovery Network. Buchner is a past-president of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement.

Bennett Capers, Senior Technology Fellow

Bennett is the Stanley A. August Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law. His commentary and op-eds have appeared in the New York Times and numerous journals. He has been a visiting professor at Fordham Law School, University of Texas Law School, and Boston University Law School. Prior to teaching, Bennett spent nearly ten years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, and was a nominee for the Director’s Award from the U.S. Department of Justice. His academic interests include the relationship between race, gender, and criminal justice. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia University School of Law.

Danielle Citron, Senior Technology Fellow

Danielle is the Morton and Sophia Macht Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. Her scholarship has explored the intersection of artificial intelligence and the law, including extensive work on privacy and the societal implications of deep learning powered fakery. Danielle is an Affiliate Scholar at the Stanford Center on Internet and Society, Affiliate Fellow at the Yale Information Society Project, and a member of the Principals Group for the Harvard-MIT AI Fund. She is the Chair of the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s Board of Directors.

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, Technology Fellow

Andrew is a national expert on predictive policing, big data policing, and emerging surveillance technologies. He is a professor at the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law and author of The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and the Future of Law Enforcement. Prior to joining the law faculty, Andrew worked as a supervising attorney at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. He holds an LL.M from Georgetown Law Center, a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and a B.A. from Williams College.

Robert Haas, Distinguished Senior Fellow

Prior to retirement, Commissioner Haas served as the chief executive of the Cambridge Police Department. He has previously served as the Massachusetts' Executive of Public Safety and Undersecretary of Law Enforcement and Homeland Security, and as Chief of the Westwood Police Department. Bob has launched a wide range of community policing initiatives. He received a Masters of Arts in Criminal Justice Administration from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Science Degree from William Paterson College of New Jersey, and is a member of the U.S. Attorney’s Multi-disciplinary Threat Assessment and Intervention Working Group.

Christopher Slobogin, Senior Technology Fellow

Christopher Slobogin occupies the Milton Underwood Chair at Vanderbilt University Law School, where he directs the Criminal Justice Program. He has authored more than 100 articles, books and chapters on topics relating to criminal law and procedure, mental health law and evidence, and is one of the five most cited criminal law and procedure law professors in the country over the past five years, according to the Leiter Report. He is currently an Associate Reporter for the American Law Institute's Principles of Police Investigation Project.

Bob Wasserman, Distinguished Senior Fellow

Bob is a lifelong internationally-recognized expert in law enforcement and community relations. He previously served as a Senior Adviser on International Law Enforcement for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement at the State Department, and as Chief of Staff of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. He served as Duty Commissioner for Operations & Acting Commissioner of the U.N. International Police Task Force in Bosnia, and as a senior executive in several large American police agencies. He completed his graduate work in Police Administration at Michigan State University.

Affiliated Scholars

Jillian Carr

Jillian is an Assistant Professor of Economics in the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Texas A&M University. Jillian's research fields are applied microeconomics and labor economics, and her current research is on the economics of crime, urban economics and law and economics.

Jennifer Doleac, Affiliated Scholar

Jennifer Doleac is an Associate Professor of Economics at Texas A&M University, Director of the Justice Tech Lab, and host of the Probable Causation podcast. She studies the economics of crime and discrimination, with particular emphases on prisoner reentry and the effects of technology on public safety.

Sharad Goel

Sharad Goel is an Assistant Professor of Management Science and Engineering and, by courtesy, Sociology and Computer Science, at Stanford University. His primary area of research is computational social science, an emerging discipline at the intersection of computer science, statistics, and the social sciences.

Mike Mueller-Smith

Mike is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Michigan, and Director of the Criminal Justice Administrative Records System. His research focuses on measuring the scope and prevalence of the criminal justice system in the U.S. as well as its broadly defined impact on the population.

Emily Owens

Emily is a professor in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society at the University of California, Irvine. Her research examines how government policies affect the prevalence of criminal activity, as well as how agents within the criminal justice system, particularly police, prosecutors, and judges, respond to policy changes.

Ravi Shroff

Ravi Shroff is an Assistant Professor of Applied Statistics, and by joint appointment, an Assistant Professor of Urban Informatics at NYU's Center for Urban Science and Progress. His interests are broadly related to computational social science, in particular, the application of statistical and machine learning techniques to a variety of urban issues.

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